It's a special One-Year Anniversary episode of the Player One Podcast this week. We've got all the usual plus an extended chat about Capcom's slate of retro remakes, a rundown of the news that caught our eyes last week, and lots and lot of other stuff. Plus, all the greetings and salutations we could stuff into a single episode. Some of the games we discuss in the What'cha Been Playin' this week--Beautiful Katamari, Flash Focus, Thrillville, E4, Puzzle Quest and more. Thanks for listening to the...
Oct 22, 2007•1 hr 39 min
There's a fine line between a good game and complete crap. Last week saw the release of Yaris on Xbox Live Arcade. Our stance on it...pretty clear. Game of the YEAR. OK, not really. It's not even terribly effective as an advergame. Take a listen to this episode and you'll hear our opinions of Yaris, The Orange Box, Puzzle Quest, Hot PXL, Rock Band, MLB Power Pros, Ratchet & Clank Future (demo), Warriors Orochi, Phantom Hourglass and Halo 3. Plus we discuss a few of the news stories that caug...
Oct 14, 2007•1 hr
Here it is, our 50th episode. Amazed that we've lasted this long on such a regular basis? So are we. This week we've got a super-sized Game Tape Impressions segment where we talk about such new releases as The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Spider-Man: Friend or Foe, Project Gotham Racing 4, Halo 3 and MLB Power Pros. We also quickly tackle a couple of news headlines (including two rumors that turned true last week) and take a few calls from listeners. Thanks for listening! You can leave us...
Oct 08, 2007•1 hr 26 min
This week is the episode of flubbed/bombed segues, mispronunciations and Game Fuel buildup. Oh, and Halo 3. Yes, we talk about that a little bit too. No story spoilers here, so fear not (we didn't play much single player or co-op this week). And if Halo 3's not your thing, worry not -- we've thrown that segment at the end of the podcast. You're welcome. Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playe...
Oct 01, 2007•1 hr 5 min
Don't worry, there are no Halo 3 spoilers in this episode (in case you were wondering). Actually there's barely any Halo talk in this episode at all. In the run-up to Tuesday's mega-launch of the most anticipated game of the year, we spend this episode talking about other, less Master Chief-y games, go over some Tokyo Game Show news, and Dan gives one listener a verbal thrashing...over Halo. BTW, we're going to do another Player One Podcast Game Night this Friday, September 28. If you've been un...
Sep 23, 2007•1 hr 7 min
This week we welcome ex-Electronic Gaming Monthly editor and Shawnimals creator Shawn Smith to the program for 90 minutes of chatting about games, ye olden days of EGM, and what it's like to leave a video game magazine, start a line of designer plush and then turn that work into a video game—Southpeak Interactive's recently announced Ninjatown for Nintendo DS. Plus we talk about the games we've been playing in the past week and go over a few of last week's big headlines. Thanks for listening! Yo...
Sep 16, 2007•1 hr 30 min
Admit it. You're biased. You have likes, dislikes, loves, hates, etc. And we jump into that a bit this week as we talk about fanboy logic -- the propensity to defend something you own/like even when that position is indefensible or seemingly illogical. We go through a few of the previous system wars and even fess up to our own personal biases. Maybe you'll be able to do the same after listening. Thanks go to Declivity Man on our forum for suggesting the topic. But that's not all, we also discuss...
Sep 10, 2007•1 hr 27 min
This week the boys spend the entire podcast talking about all the boffo games they've been playing over the past week. Thrill as they go toe-to-toe on whether Metroid Prime 3 is "the tits" or yet another GameCube game with gimmicky controls. Witness them talk up Blue Dragon like it's not just another average RPG. Groan as Greg calls out Folklore for being a warmed-over turd. Plus! Be sure to take part in Player One's first game giveaway! Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment...
Sep 03, 2007•51 min
This week it's BioShock, BioShock, BioShock...and some Space Giraffe. And some other games. But mostly, BioShock. We suppose we should say before you listen that if you don't want to hear minor BioShock gameplay spoilers, you may want to skip from around the 28-minute mark to around the one-hour-and-20-second area. The spoilers are fairly minor, and if you've played up to Arcadia Hills (think "trees") they're nothing big. Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-...
Aug 27, 2007•1 hr 34 min
Madden last week, BioShock this week. The evidence is all around us -- we've started into the fall gaming season where players will part with exorbitant amounts of cash to play the games they've been waiting all year for. And we're gonna like it, damnit! In this episode, we run down the releases month by month and discuss what we'll buy, what we'll skip, and what we'll wait till it's half-off to pick up sometime next year. To wrap it up, we limit ourselves to just five games -- the ones we absol...
Aug 19, 2007•1 hr 29 min
Are Public Relations representatives really the secret evil behind all that is wrong with videogame journalism? Or are they just another necessary evil in the giant game of game media? The boys discuss a recent article over at Gamasutra regarding this very subject, as well as wax nostalgic about some of their run-ins with over-zealous PR folks and publishing CEOs. But first they talk about what's been gracing the disc-trays of their various consoles this past week. Games ranging from the origina...
Aug 13, 2007•1 hr 25 min
Twenty years ago, gaming began and ended with the Nintendo Entertainment System. You either owned one or desperately wanted to. It's been nearly 20 years since that time for most of us, and we spend a good portion of this episode telling tales of the NES -- reminiscing about our first experiences with the system, our favorite games, and the highs and lows of relying solely on allowances and birthdays for new games. That's not all though. Thanks in part to a little blow-up on 1UP.com, we also spe...
Aug 06, 2007•1 hr 36 min
This week the boys spend a lengthy amount of time talking about what they’ve been playing. Titles like Super Contra, Wing Commander Arena, Alien Syndrome, Overlord, Heavenly Sword, Project Sylpheed and more. And Phil has a total "Shane" moment in the process. Then, thrill to the story of how young Dan Dormer got his first break in the videogame industry, and get a bit of advice on how you, too, could do the same. Finally, we field some calls from our awesome listeners, and find out just how much...
Jul 30, 2007•1 hr 16 min
We open this episode by talking a little bit about which outlet we thought had the better E3 show coverage (or, rather, whose coverage we looked at most). But E3 is but a distant memory for the remainder. While we chat about what games we've been playing and rap for a little while about the Jeff Bell Internet drama (full story at links in the show notes) and game developer Dave Perry's comment about the Wii's fad factor, we spend most of this episode on more of the crew's "Tales of How I Got Int...
Jul 23, 2007•1 hr 36 min
It's the happiest time of the year for game companies. A time when they take precious manpower from their development cycle and cobble together an E3 demo in the hopes that some unwashed game journalist won't pass judgement on their product based on a five-minute demonstration and a press release. This week four of your favourite unwashed game journalists pick apart the three big press conferences as seen from the sidelines. Who did well? Who did poorly? Who the hell wrote Reggie's "Zap A Zombie...
Jul 16, 2007•2 hr 4 min
We began recording this episode on Sunday with really just one thought in mind--talking about E3. And in the second segment we do that, mostly focusing on E3s passed and how the show changed during the time we (well, minus Dan) were actively involved in gaming magazine publishing. We share a few stories, a few yarns, a few fun anecdotes. The perfect thing in case any of you are heading down to the "new" E3, which takes place this week (none of us are, btw -- though two of us were invited). Other...
Jul 09, 2007•1 hr 24 min
Two members of our cast are total Harry Potter geeks. In fact, the only passion that outstrips their love of the bespectacled wizard has to do with the Transformers. So you can guess what most of this episode is about. Who has the better game -- Harry or Optimus? Along with the two biggies, the boys tackle Carcassonne and Final Fantasy this week. Plus a look at some of the latest headlines in the gaming industry. And finally, they talk a bit about the licensed movie game genre. Thanks for listen...
Jul 02, 2007•1 hr 15 min
This week: A continuation of last week's discussion about game pricing. This time 'round we tackle the price of portable gaming, downloadable content, Xbox Live Arcade game price drops (or nonexistence of any) and more. Plus, we go over what we've been playing this week and play a couple voicemails. Thanks for listening! You can leave us a voicemail comment by calling 713-893-8069. Or you can e-mail us, vote for us on Digg, leave a comment on the iTunes Music Store, leave a comment on the blog p...
Jun 25, 2007•1 hr 24 min
Whether it's Microsoft having to publicly justify the $10 price tag of Pac-Man Championship Edition and explain the reason why Shadowrun on 360 is $10 more than it is on PC, or news the Sony is "studying" PS3 price cuts...the price of gaming is a big topic of discussion these days. In the second segment we kick off a conversation about game/console pricing that will continue in next week's cast. Have $60 games changed the way you decide what to buy? Have you jumped ship to Gamefly and other rent...
Jun 17, 2007•1 hr 18 min
To celebrate the release of Tomb Raider Anniversary (or, depending on who you ask, Pac-Man Championship Edition) the boys tackle the topic of retro remakes this week. Do we like �em? Do we hate �em? Should Square Enix just give up on the Final Fantasy remakes already? You�ll have to listen to find out. And after that, we take some listener calls (Dan likes to call them �reader� calls�he�s so cute) and discuss the current state of game magazines, the reaction to the most recent EGM ...
Jun 11, 2007•1 hr 14 min
This is the episode that almost didn't happen. Or, rather, it's the episode that happened three times and we still didn't make it out alive. Either way you look at it, here it is and let's all just be glad it's over. The first two tries at recording this over the weekend were foiled by CJ's laptop teetering on the brink of obsolescence. The third time was the charm, except that halfway through Dan's Internet went wonky and his recording software crashed, leaving us with only a rough backup track...
Jun 06, 2007•1 hr 3 min
It's Memorial Day weekend in the USA, generally thought of as the "official" start of the summer movie season (though more and more films are opening well beforehand every year). This weekend it's Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End. But 30 years ago it was Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. To commemorate the occasion, we spend the second half of this episode talking about Star Wars as the series has appeared in video games. From the original 1980s arcade game to Masters of Teras Kasi and...
May 28, 2007•1 hr 31 min
Last week the rumor hit the Internet that Nintendo was planning to shutter their Nintendo Power magazine. Sad news for those of us in the "Nintendo generation" that grew up reading it religiously. So we invited Kevin Gifford of magweasel.com and GameSetWatch's weekly Game Mag Weaseling column to talk about it. We not only discuss the rumored shutdown of Nintendo Power but also about the current state of video game magazines in the US and UK and the changing nature of print publishing. Thanks for...
May 20, 2007•1 hr 32 min
This week we take a minute (OK, more like 30) to talk about the ill-fated 32-bit Sega Saturn system. But we're not just doing it because we like to shoot the bull about classic game hardware--May 11 marked 12 years since the system launched in North America, the first (and last) time a game console has been stealth-surprise launched. Maybe our discussion of the system and its games will spark a few memories in your mind (and if it does, pick up the phone and tell 'em to our voicemail line so we ...
May 14, 2007•1 hr 31 min
The title of this episode is a choice piece of advice on how to get into the industry from this week's special guest, 1UP.com's Patrick Klepek. If you've always wondered how to get your foot in the door, you'll want to stick around for the last part of this episode where Patrick and co-host Greg Sewart share their stories of how they got started. (We'll get to the rest of the crew and other guests in the next few weeks.) Two other big topics this week -- First, David Jaffe's blog blow-up against...
May 07, 2007•1 hr 29 min
Ken Kutaragi. He wasn't just the CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, he was also the father of the PlayStation. Without him, Sony never would've gotten into the gaming business to begin with. So it seems a bit odd that on the eve of what should be their triumph, he's retiring. While it's debatable as to whether he should've ascended to the heights he did within Sony (and his rambling, eccentric speeches at various press conferences point directly at this), it does seem like his stepping down is ...
Apr 30, 2007•1 hr 30 min
To mark the glorious occasion of the release of a brand-new Pokemon game, we take a look back on the series as a whole -- the ups, the downs, the seizure-inducing TV show, all of it. Is it wrong that grown adults love the Pokemon games too? Certainly not -- after all, they're just plain ol' RPGs with 400 cute characters to capture. At the end of the segment we issue a challenge to any Pokerapping listeners we might have out there. Any takers? Before all that we talk about what we've been playing...
Apr 23, 2007•1 hr 19 min
Warning: Depending on your stance on game spoilers, you'll either love or hate this episode of the Player One Podcast. Because Gamestop locations are running a video in-store that shows the ending of Zelda: Twilight Princess, we thought it would be the perfect time to talk about spoilers. What is and is not a game spoiler? Is watching the first 10 minutes of a highly anticipated game via a webcast spoiling the experience? When is the statute of limitations up, making it OK to spoil? After all, T...
Apr 16, 2007•1 hr 31 min
We kick off this episode on a bit of a sour note -- Phil's Xbox 360 was visited by the system-killing three red lights just two weeks after CJ's died. Clearly, Greg and Dan's systems are next. But we quickly move into greener topics, discussing Super Paper Mario (which CJ got to play a bunch of this week) and Guitar Hero II at length in our first segment. We also discuss the recent PSP price drop. Is it enough? Can the PSP be saved by adding a second analog stick or getting rid of UMD? And final...
Apr 09, 2007•1 hr 20 min
This week all four regulars are back, and just in time too for a rousing discussion of the pros and cons of the newly announced Xbox 360 Elite. With its 120GB hard drive, HDMI port (plus included cable--take that, Sony!) and sleek black curves, you'd think it'd be everything you'd ever want in a 360. Only, it's not. Let the complaining commence. Our other big discussion in this episode is about Sega's NiGHTS sequel and the screenshots/info that were revealed via several European sources last wee...
Apr 01, 2007•1 hr 42 min
