| # | Title / Theme |
|---|---|
| 30 | Platforming's Not Dead (1/12/2011) In about an hour and a half we make a mad dash to cram in everything we love about the genre, accompanied by a good heaping of the typical odds, ends, and epiphanies you'd expect. We talk about which games pulled us into the genre, the best design characteristics, and things we played that should have never been made. There's a little back and forth about Super Meat Boy, and we reserve the end of the show to talk about the often drier climate of the modern 3D platformer. Then we accidentally miss the edge and take a vertical dive off of a cliff. Enjoy! |
| Panel: B coma, bleak, Deets, JamesE, Notbov, spinach, tacotaskforce (aka Lainer), Take It Sleazy, and Talbain | |
| 31 | Fighting Words 2: EX Plus Alpha (2/27/2011) Well over a year later, we open the gates on another podcast about fightman games. This time we talk (primarily) about the release of MVC 3 and have an in-depth discussion about Midnight Bliss WolverinCANCEL We also find time to talk about the state of fighting game arcade culture, the new, console-centric wave fighting games are riding, and why fighters are more accessible now than ever. There's some stuff in the middle about fighting games that are on the horizon, and then nothingxs swallows a bag full of helium to talk about some that aren't! |
| Panel: ArOne, Ben Reed, Bleak, Botagel, Jigsaw, nothingxs, and diplo who escapes being on the podcast (just) barely | |
| 32 | Leveled (3/7/2011) This episode we pore over our favorite FPS games from the last twenty years to talk about how level design trends have changed over time. We explore how the threads connect: Doom, Deus Ex, Rainbow Six, Duke, Unreal, Halo and beyond. From the earliest ray cast engines and key card hunts to the glossiest shader model 3.0 hallways. Be sure to stick around afterwards when diplo goes WILD and talks about REAL ART in an amazing feat of TRUE POETRY. |
| Panel: B coma, cubalibre, diplo, Lainer (aka tacotaskforce), and notbov | |
| 33 | King of Development (3/31/2011) The gang gets together to talk about how they like makin' games, and thinkin' 'bout the game design process all the time. Somewhere near the beginning the guys talk about how they would “make” games as young'uns by altering the rules of existing games, as well as the hours spent pouring over graph paper creating endless worlds and level designs. Also they talk about how dang frustrating it can be to tackle a project solo. Apol joins a little late and talks about ZZT, MegaZeux, and working on his game. Then Diplo joins even later and talks about art cookies and friendly spikes. Shit don't miss it! |
| Panel: diplo, drobe, haze, Mr. Apol, and take it sleazy | |
| 34 | Sound Music Shock! (4/11/2011) This episode is part two, if you will, in a series about sound and music design in vidcons (check out episode 6 for the first one!). This time we take a closer look at the characteristics of old sound hardware, the effect nostalgia has on our perception of it, the “music game” genre, and lots, lots more in the course of two hours. Enjoy! |
| Panel: bleak, deets, diplo, ionustron, notbov, and nothingxs | |
| 35 | 2010 Year in Review (5/3/2011) Four scant months into the new year, the SBDNPC delivers its 2010 in Vidcons Special. The podcast goes into Extended Play mode for a 3 hour review of all the notable and not-at-all notable releases from last year. Who will be crowned king of the heap? Whatever it is it probably ain't Heavy Rain. |
| Panel: deets, diplo, Lainer, nothingxs, Takashi, Texican Rude, and VgameT | |
| 36 | Hit to Death in the Future Head (5/19/2011) STG's, Shooting Games, SHUMPS, Cute'em ups, Loli-Witch Sims: whatever you choose to call them, some of us at selecbutton.net really, really love playing them, and therefore I am understandably proud to present to you one of the most dense and informative podcasts in the show's history. A great listen whether or not you've ever seriously played one of these shoot man game-things (play Mars Matrix). |
| Panel: deets, kiken, Schwere Viper, Texican Rude, and VgameT | |
| 37 | Dot Matrix with Stereo Sound (7/5/2011) The Game Boy was a damn good platform, in the end. Built for battery life and technically inferior to the competition, but time after time developers (well, first party I guess) embraced the limitations of the system to bring us some of the best entries in franchises that are now limping creatively. There were plenty of developers who missed the point too, often to hilarious effect, in their attempts to shrink 8-bit and 16-bit console experiences down to the Game Boy without forethought. We talk about all of that, and somehow I still forget to mention Revenge of the 'Gator. |
| Panel: ArOne, B coma, deets, diplo, James E, Lainer, notbov, Torumasuta | |
| 38 | ROM Hacks (9/10/2011) This episode: ROM hacking. From sprite edits and translations to total conversions and taxing level edits, we talk about our favorites from over the years. Don't worry though, we also touch on the worst garbage-jobs ever butchered and sold in 26-in-1 pirate carts. The panel also discusses hacking projects they've either contributed to or created over the years and, unlike this podcast, these projects might actually be released in timely manner. |
| Panel: audi, deets, diplo, gideon zhi, L, smithee, shnozlak, haze, spinach and takashi | |
| 39 | Adaption (9/20/2011) For as long as vidcons have existed there's been a driving and possibly foolish desire to see their narratives adapted for other types of media — books, television, movies, comic books, cereal, etc. But how do you take a narrative as simple as Pac Man and expand that into 42 different 22 minute episodes? How the hell do you make a faithful novelization of Metal Gear Solid 2? Why do the Resident Evil movies need to be two different films at once? What is Adilegian's secret stir-fry recipe? At least one of these questions is answered satisfactorily. Click now and find out which one! |
| Panel: Adilegian, B coma, deets, cubalibre, diplo, Lainer and smithee | |
| 40 | Cavia - loveletter/endnote (10/21/2011) After a decade of making games, Cavia has ceased to exist and are virtually seconds away from being forgotten by everyone. Forever. Logically we dedicate an entire episode to them! As expected, there's a lot of discussion of NieR in this. Like, a hell of a lot. But we also talk about Cavia the company: sparks of inspiration, some incredibly bold moves, and a sea of mediocrity. Get to it! |
| Panel: Gorblax, Lainer, Moogs, Ronnoc, Sniper Honeyviper, and smithee | |
| 41 | Fear of a Dangerous Planet (11/1/2011) Whenever there's talk of games that share DNA with Metroid, it's easy to make broad connections to superficial aspects of their world structure and leave it at that, but there's a lot of other things that the series did so well — things that even recent Metroid sequels don't bother with, like subtextual level design, ecology, deceptively flexible mechanics, foreboding atmosphere, and an often convincing sense of place and scale. We celebrate 25 years of Metroid by talking about our personal connection to the series, what characterizes each game, and the influence the series has had on modern games (for better or worse). We also try really, really hard to not talk about that game. Find out if we succeed! |
| Panel: adilegian, apol, armed police catrider, B coma, deets, diplo, ionustron, smithee, and spectralsound | |
| 42 | This Place is Cursed (12/11/2011) If you've payed even a scant amount of attention around here you've probably picked up on the general enthusiasm and fervor some of us have for From Software's "Soul" series: Demon's Souls and Dark Souls. We once did an experimental episode of the podcast which featured some footage of the co-op feature in Demon's Souls. Check that out here if you missed it the first time. Of course, Dark Souls has been released since we did that, so in this episode we broaden the topic to include that game as well as its predecessor series: King's Field. This episode is about the appeal of these games, and what makes their experiences meaningful. We talk about the effectiveness of the their atmosphere, the delightfulness of their sounds, the density of their combat, and the exhilarating ridiculousness of their PvP. Furthermore, someone will die horribly at the end of this episode! |
| Panel: Apol, B coma, secret character, spectralsound, smithee, and remote | |
| 43 | Holiday Deathcast II: Winter's Revenge (12/21/2011) Join us as we fly blind in cold weather: heady topics abound as we talk about the guy that looked like Justin Bieber in the UMVC 3 SoCal Regionals Finals, the strangeness of Square's output during the PSX era, people who think James in Silent Hill 2 is a swell guy, the underwhelming amount of mystery in gaming, the overwhelming terribleness of Hard Corps: Uprising, the PSVita, the copy of NCIS: The Game: Based on the Hit TV Series that's still sitting on my desk in shrinkwrap, and much much much much much much more. Fuck! |
| Panel: B coma, boojiboy7, CubaLibre, and deets | |